Joe Belfiore confirms WP8.1 Developer Preview is coming “first part of April” and other titbits

Joe Belfiore has just confirmed on twitter that the much anticipated Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Update will be coming in the “first part of April”, 2014 presumably, which by my reckoning leaves only 8 days for the software to show up.

The update will be available to all registered developers (which can also include casual users who register at App Studio) and will bring most of Windows Phone 8.1, but not include Nokia’s new Cyan bits, or hardware drivers for Miracast to the Nokia Lumia 1520 for example. That would have to wait for the official update in summer.

He also revealed some more titbits, noting Local Scout was now available via Maps and QRCode reading and Bing Vision via a camera lens, a move which seems to have scattered some very usefully Windows Phone functions previously clustered together. Bing Music will be part of Cortana.